This was the title of a speech I heard Dr. Josef Olmert, brother of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, give last night at my alma mater. I loved that he prefaced his speech with "there are 7 million Israelis and 15 million opinions," just because it so accurately portrays how opinionated Jews are. Dr. Olmert's two main focuses were on Iran and on the Israeli-Arab conflict. A brief summation of his speech:
Prior to the Iran Contra Affair, Iran was ruled by the Shah. Although the Shah was portrayed as a dictator, he was nevertheless pro-Western and pro-democracy. By usurpuring his position, Islamic Fundamentalism had been given legitimacy in the form of a nation-state. Ever since, Iran has been vehemently anti-Israel. Iran just doesn't have a problem with the current PM or some of Israel's policies. Iran has a problem with Israel's very existence! When Iran's head of state makes statements like "Israel needs to be wiped off the map," Israel cannot afford to take these threats lightly. A third of Israel's youth (yes, youth, not the elders that actually suffered the Holocaust) fear a Second Holocaust being imminent. The issue is that Israel is a Jewish state because its population is predominantly Jewish. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews...because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism." When you talk about criticizing Israel, that's one thing. Some of the most critical people of Israel's policies are Israelis themselves. But when constructive criticism become distored and needlessly disproportionate demonization, to the point where Palestinians do not receive an iota of chiding, then something is terribly wrong. That's the point where anti-Israel sentiment becomes anti-Semitism. Iran has essentially declared jihad against the Jews, which is why Iran's nuclear developments are all the more disturbing. Fear not, says Olmert, because Israel is not the only country that needs to worry about a nuclear Iran. For many centuries, there has been discord between the Sunnis and Shi'ite Muslims. Iran, being Shi'ite, scares all the Sunni countries, i.e., the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Northern Africa.
Peace between Israel and Palestine is possible, says Olmert. He established precedence by pointing out peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan (although I would point out that they are considered "cold peaces"). After a brief overview of the history of the modern Israeli state, he explained that the Gazan War (aka Operation Lead Cast) occurred because Fatah was in the process of creating a peace treaty, and Hamas decided to provoke in order to detract Israel from the peace process. Although Hamas had indiscriminately fired nearly 8,000 rockets into southern Israel (only 8,000!), there were two reasons why Israel waited as long as it did. 1) It didn't want to show that it made the mistake of withdrawing from Gaza back in 2005. 2) Israeli military was worried about too many Palestinian casualties! After visiting Sderot in 2008, Sen. John McCain said that being in a border state, if Mexico were firing rockets on Arizona, he'd instinctually retaliate. What ultimately caused Israel to attack was because they were provoked into attacking, and that is what Hamas intended. The only thing that makes Israel unique in this regard is not that they attacked, but ratherthat they waited so long to attack in hopes to gain peace. Olmert stated that ultimately, the war was a success because since Operation Lead Cast, there have hardly been any rockets shot at Israel.
Dr. Olmert concluded on two levels. The first is to deal with Iran. He was optimistic about economic sanctions working, presuming that multilateral pursuit was in play. Iran has the potential to cause an arms race in the Middle East, thereby making it even more volatile of a region than it has been in the past. The second is how to deal with Palestine. "Donate energy to optimism and your daily life. By letting it phase you and take such a toll on you, you let the terrorists win," opined Olmert. If one lives his daily life as normal in an optimistic fashion, you stick it to the terrorists because you let them know that their tactics aren't effective. This would thereby diminish their resolve to combat Israel. Also, Olmert said that he doesn't need approval from the Palestinians for the right to a Jewish homeland. He contrasted that assertion by stating that although he believes in a Jewish land, he is willing to give it up because peace is more important. And that peace will come when a Hamas spokesman says that they want peace. Although he tried to remain optimistic, such as the 7.6% unemployment in Israel and its realtively resilient economy, he is still apprehensive because of Iran.
My two cents: Although Dr. Olmert is a fellow Jew and I appreciated his visit, not to mention his historical accuracy in presenting Israel, I would have to say there was quite a bit I disagreed with, particularly how to approach the conflicts in the Middle East. First, with regards to Iran. I don't share Olmert's optimism on the feasibility of economic sanctions simply because economic sanctions historically work when they're backed up by military action. Second, his take on how to deal with Gaza and the West Bank is very soft. Olmert said that peace wouldn't come around until a Hamas leader stood for peace, but Olmert fails to provide with a means of making that pipe-dream happen. Golda Meir said it best: "Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews." This anti-Semitism is the obstacle for peace. It's so embedded within the Palestinian psyche that martyrdom becomes their raison d'être. "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." It's part of the introduction of the Hamas Charter. If you don't believe me, read it for yourself. All of the negative, innacurate stereotypes of the Jew are taught in schools. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even called Palestinian textbooks a form of child abuse. I can go on, but the point is that evil cannot be talked to, it cannot be reasoned with. Daniel Pipes speaks the truth when he says that we're truly not treating this like a war, and that we're not breaking the Palestinian will to fight. Did talking to Hitler stop anything? Not at all; just ask Neville Chamberlin. The day that Israel stops strangling itself with political correctness, the day Israel shows some true resolve, much like we saw at the birth of the modern state, then, and only then will we see an end to all the bloodshed. But until Israel grows a pair, I'm afraid that the instability and violence will be perpetuated in a cyclical fashion.
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